First Look at Gandolfini in ‘Zero Dark Thirty’, Hemsworth Takes $10 Million for ‘Assassin’ and Sanders for ‘Van Helsing’

1.)Chris Hemsworth (Thor, The Avengers) will reportedly be paid $10 million to star in American Assassin for CBS Films. Jeffrey Nachmanoff (Traitor) is set to direct the film which would find Hemsworth playing Mitch Rapp, a college scholar and athlete turned ruthless hunter of terrorists for the CIA. The story is adapted from Vince Flynn’s book of the same name and Bruce Willis is in talks to play Rapp’s mentor. [Deadline]

2.)Transformers and Star Trek scripters Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci are trying to piece together Van Helsing at Universal with Tom Cruise attached as the title character and it looks like Universal may shuffle Snow White and the Huntsman helmer Rupert Sanders away from any potential sequel there and give him Helsing duties. [Twitch]

3.)Liam Neeson‘s next action outing finds him in Non-Stop for Jaume Collet-Serra. The film centers on a federal air marshal (Neeson) who starts receiving text messages from someone claiming to be on the same flight, and is threatening to kill its passengers. Racing against the clock, he must identify and stop the killer. Nate Parker already secured a role and now we learn Julianne Moore, Scoot McNairy and Michelle Dockery have joined the cast with shooting set to begin November 1 in New York. [Variety]

4.)Uma Thurman is the latest to join Lars Von Trier‘s Nymphomaniac. Her role isn’t being disclosed as she joins Shia Labeouf, Jamie Bell, Connie Nielsen, Mia Goth, Jens Albinus, Severin von Hoensbroech, Peter Gilberg Cotton, Nicolas Bro, Tabea Tarbiat, Janine Romanowski, Jesper Christensen, Tania Carlin, Felicity Gilbert and Shanti Roney in the film. The story is described as centering on the self-diagnosed nymphomaniac, Joe (Gainsbourg) who’s found beaten up in an alley. While being cared for she recounts the story of her life, rich in associations and interjecting incidents. Filming is currently underway near Cologne, Germany. [THR]

5.) I certainly hadn’t heard James Gandolfini was in Kathryn Bigelow‘s Zero Dark Thirty or if I had, I had forgotten. However, sure enough, a first look picture of him in the film as Leon Panetta, current Secretary of Defense and former Chief of Staff to President Bill Clinton, who headed up the CIA while the hunt for Osama bin Laden was underway. Check out the picture directly below. [EW]